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Moscow May Resume Normalization Talks between Ankara, Damascus

Russian President Vladimir Putin received Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Moscow last week. (Turkish Foreign Ministry)
Russian President Vladimir Putin received Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Moscow last week. (Turkish Foreign Ministry)
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Moscow May Resume Normalization Talks between Ankara, Damascus

Russian President Vladimir Putin received Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Moscow last week. (Turkish Foreign Ministry)
Russian President Vladimir Putin received Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Moscow last week. (Turkish Foreign Ministry)

Turkish sources revealed that new steps may be taken to resume discussions to normalize relations between Türkiye and Syria in line with the Astana path.

Normalization efforts, which had been sponsored by Moscow, had stalled since June last year.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan proposed resuming the talks during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow last week.

The sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that more discussions will be held over the issue when Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meet in Astana on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on July 3 and 4.

Putin and Fidan had discussed the situation in Syria and Ankara’s rejection of elections in regions in northeastern Syria that are held by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Ankara believes the polls pose a threat to Türkiye’s national security.

Türkiye believes Damascus must show the “appropriate” stance towards these elections, added the sources.

The elections were supposed to be held on June 11 but have been postponed to August.

Erdogan said last week that the postponement was aimed at adding legitimacy to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and its Syrian arm, the People’s Protection Units (YPG) - the SDF’s military wing.

Erdogan said: “There is no doubt that the Syrian administration won’t allow the election to happen or won’t allow steps to be taken in that direction.”

Observers said his words reflect coordination between Moscow, Ankara and Damascus to bar the elections.

Putin had said he hopes to meet with Erdogan in Astana to discuss several issues, including the war in Ukraine.

Observers said his remarks were a sign that Moscow was keen on reviving the normalization talks between Ankara and Damascus.

The sources stressed that Russia, Türkiye and Syria all oppose the elections, so an agreement may be reached between them.

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Arab World

Sudanese Stakeholders Hold Roundtable Talks in Geneva

A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)
A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)
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Sudanese Stakeholders Hold Roundtable Talks in Geneva

A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)
A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)

Geneva has hosted a third “roundtable” of meetings involving Sudanese political and civil groups aimed at bridging the gap between the country’s warring parties. These talks, coordinated by the French organization Promediation, follow similar meetings held previously in Cairo and Geneva. The primary goals are to negotiate a ceasefire and facilitate humanitarian aid to civilians.

The two-day meetings, which began on Monday, include representatives from the Coordination of Democratic Civil Forces (Tagadum), the pro-army Democratic Bloc coalition, and armed movements aligned with the bloc. However, some groups have announced their boycott of the meetings.

The Democratic Bloc has shown conflicting stances on attending the Geneva talks. Mohammed Zakaria, spokesperson for the bloc and a member of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), announced his group’s decision not to participate.

Omar Khalafallah, a leader in the Democratic Unionist Party and another bloc spokesperson, refuted Zakaria’s statement, insisting that the bloc would attend the meetings to promote a national vision.

A source within the Democratic Bloc told Asharq Al-Awsat that the meetings revealed significant internal divisions in the coalition. The JEM, led by current Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim, appears to be charting its own course, which the source described as a form of defection.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Sharif Mohammed Osman, a leader in Tagadum and the political secretary of the Sudanese Congress Party, explained that the meetings seek to achieve consensus on ending the war through negotiated solutions, starting with a humanitarian truce to ensure aid delivery and the opening of safe corridors.

These measures are considered preliminary steps toward a ceasefire and a peaceful resolution to the conflict, he underlined.

A wide array of civilian leaders are participating in the talks, including key figures from Tagadum, such as Sudanese Congress Party leader Omar Al-Dukair, Federal Gathering Party leader Babiker Faisal, and head of the Sudan Liberation Movement – Transitional Council Al-Hadi Idris.

Osman expressed optimism that the participants would issue a unified final statement addressing the peaceful resolution of the war and agreeing on a humanitarian truce to facilitate aid delivery.

In October, Cairo hosted a similar meeting, which resulted in a final statement signed by the participating groups, except for the Sudan Liberation Movement – Minni Minnawi faction and the JEM – Jibril Ibrahim faction, which refused to endorse the Cairo declaration despite attending the discussions.

Promediation, a French organization supported by the French and Swiss foreign ministries, has played a consistent role in Sudanese affairs. Since June 2022, it has organized roundtable discussions, initially focusing on negotiations between Darfuri armed movements before expanding its scope to include Sudanese political and civil forces in the wake of the war.